Advent Rising
by GeneralDragon
Summary: Cloud and Tifa have finally settled down, but just as they get used to living the good life something comes along to shake it all up. Chapter 1 ready
1. Chapter 1

**Disclaimer: I do not own Final Fantasy or any of the characters in this story. This disclaimer goes for all future chapters as well. If you read about it just assume I don't own it unless I tell you other wise! **

**Chapter 1**

_A New Reality_

* * *

The coldness of the office stung you to the bone. Cloud brushed one boot clad leg against the other, hoping to generate some sort of warmth. 

_What bonehead messed up the heat?_ Cloud thought, not even paying attention to the paperwork scattered around on his desk.

The ocean of documents included numerous reports of monster sightings, specifically the mutated humans. Cloud was getting frustrated as the research department had still yet to develop a way to revert the mutants back to humans; even worse, they were proving near-impossible to capture. Cloud sighed, looking over some of the pictures people had taken. Recently, they had encountered one mutant that was actually two people fused together and, of course, horribly disfigured. It took an attack helicopter to take it out.

Sighing, Cloud pressed a button on his desk's intercom.

"Yes General Strife?" Cloud's secretary responded quickly.

"Sofie, I'm going home for the day. Hold all my calls."

"Yes sir; have a good night."

"You do the same."

Cloud still hadn't gotten used to everyone referring to him as 'General Strife'. True, he had taken the job as Head of Security for Neo-ShinRa, but every time someone called him 'General', it reminded him of Sephiroth, and that was not a pleasant memory.

Walking over to the executive elevator, he rode it down to the garage, where his motorcycle was parked. Out of the entire work day, this was the part he enjoyed most. Cranking the bike up, the motor roared to life, and Cloud could feel the raw power under him as he slowly coasted out of the parking garage. Once outside, he pushed the bike to its limits. As 'The General', Cloud enjoyed the privilege of living outside the law, including breaking the speed limit.

Cloud only lived a quick five minute drive away from the headquarters, but he took the long way home, preferring to go around the city via the major highway and looping all the way around to his house. The wind pulled at his skin and hair, tears fell from his eyes and almost froze to his face. The adrenalin pumped through his body and pushed him to go faster. Tifa had begged him to buy a helmet, which he had: it lay strapped to the bike's side.

Cloud gracefully slowed the bike down as he approached his exit. Leaning into the turn as he came off the off-ramp he quickly grabbed the helmet and strapped it on, keeping the bike balanced with his legs. It wasn't two minutes later he pulled into his driveway, Tifa sitting on the porch waiting on him.

Cloud took off the helmet, shut down the bike, and walked towards the house. He smiled when he saw Tifa sipping a drink in her hand; a beer sat next to her on ice, waiting for her husband.

"I know you weren't wearing the helmet."

Cloud wordlessly grabbed the beer and gently lifted Tifa off her seat. He sat down and pulled her on top of him, wrapping his arms around her waist. "And what makes you say that?"

"Your hair silly, it's all pulled back from the wind."

Cloud cursed himself for not thinking about that. Sheepishly, he replied, "Guess I'm caught."

"That's right. You can do the dishes for a week. Now let's- yeep!" Tifa nearly jumped out of her chair when Cloud tickled her sides. He grabbed her before she got away and continued to tease her, her laughter never stopping.

"What are you going to make me do for a week?"

"Di…haha…dishes!"

"I'm not stopping 'till that changes."

"Then haha…you…don't…hahaha…get any fun time!"

Cloud knew what that meant. Just to make sure, Tifa lifted herself and passionately kissed Cloud. The tickling ceased and Tifa quickly removed herself from Cloud's grasp. Walking towards the door, she looked at him seductively and shook her hips as she slowly walked into the house and up the stairs to the 2nd floor.

Cloud, still standing in the doorway, was caught, speechless. _I wonder how long it'll take to do the dishes…_

After a brief mental debate, Cloud rushed up the stairs to join his fiancé in the bedroom for 'fun time', knowing it was worth it to just throw some dishes into a machine for a week.

---

The loving couple lay in the nude, Cloud holding Tifa in his arms, gently stroking her hair. Her breathing soothed him as he felt her chest rise and fall, lulling him to sleep. However, as he drifted close to falling into dream-land, Tifa stirred.

"Cloud?"

"Um hum?"

"Have they found a way to help those people yet?"

"You mean the mutants?"

"Yes."

Cloud sighed. "No; it doesn't seem like their getting any closer, either. Right now we're concentrating on finding the source of them. Reeve's department is still looking into a cure, though."

"But if you find where they're coming from before you find a cure…won't you have to kill them all?"

Cloud tensed; Tifa had seen straight to the heart of the problem. "If we can't capture them, we won't have much choice. They're killing people, Tifa."

Tifa stood out of the bed, the moonlight casting a heavenly glow over her body. She grabbed her robe and tied it around her. "It's not their fault, though, Cloud. Those mutants are just as much victims as the people getting killed by them."

"I know."

Tifa sat at the edge of the bed; Cloud sat up in bed and stared at her. "What do you want me to do?"

"Nothing."

"Nothing?"

"You know, Cloud, things have been pretty boring around here for me. I don't have a bar to run anymore. Barrett took Denzel and Marlene with him when he got engaged to Aerith's mom, and Yuffie and the gang hardly come around anymore."

"What are you getting at Tifa?"

"I want to get a job, at Neo-ShinRa, so I can help those people."

"But Tifa…"

Tifa crawled over to Cloud and silenced him putting her mouth over his. After she broke the kiss, she pulled her lips less than an inch away from Cloud's. "No 'but's, Mr. Strife, you just let President ShinRa know that Tifa Lockhart is coming."

"If you say so."

---

The next morning, Tifa sat next to Cloud in an elegant waiting room. The walls were painted a bright red; the furniture looked antique. On the coffee table in front of them sat two cups of tea, one finished, one full: Cloud didn't like tea.

"This is a beautiful room."

"He's making me wait way too long."

"Cloud, hush, he could be listening."

At that moment, the doors on the opposite side of the room opened, and Rufus walked in.

"Cloud, Tifa, nice to see you both."

Rufus took a seat in a chair opposite the couple. "Cloud tells me you'd like to work for us?"

"Yes; I'd like to help work towards a cure for the mutants."

"Ah, yes, I actually have some news on that." Rufus noticed Cloud hadn't touched his drink. "What's wrong, Cloud, not a fan of tea?"

"Not really."

Rufus pushed a button on an intercom near him. "Reno."

_"Yes boss?"_

"Bring the General some…" Rufus paused and looked to Cloud for an answer.

"Apple juice."

Rufus smiled. "Bring the General a glass of Apple juice."

_"...You kidding, boss?"_

"Reno, who signs your paycheck?"

_"You do, boss."_

"Good; if you'd like me to sign the next one, you'll get the General his apple juice."

There was a pause on the other end. _"Yes, boss."_

Rufus cut the line and smiled at the couple. "I love pushing his buttons sometimes."

Reaching over to a briefcase on the floor, Rufus removed a folder and laid it out in front of Cloud.

"Early this morning, some patrols around old Midgar came across this young boy who had been turned into a mutant. He put up a fight, but we managed to capture him alive."

Cloud was surprised. "This is a large improvement."

"Indeed; up until now we haven't had a live subject to develop a cure with."

Tifa was horrified. "You're running experiments on a young boy?"

"I assure you, Tifa, the tests are not painful: Simple blood tests and biopsies. We've been keeping him sedated the entire time. We need him alive if we're going to test a cure. Besides, the alternative is to leave him like he is, and we can't do that, can we?"

"I suppose you're right..."

Cloud opened the folder and looked over the documents. He was shocked at some of the results the lab had gotten already. "Holy crap; their blood contains over 75 mako?"

Rufus nodded. "Yes; even in SOLDIER, mako blood content was kept under 3. It's amazing these beings can still function. Other tests have noted that the brain is still human, as well as most major organs. It also seems they're in constant pain from the high levels of mako, which explains their violent nature."

Cloud and Tifa both suppressed their laughs as Reno walked in holding a cup of apple juice and placed it in front of Cloud. "Your apple juice…sir."

"Thanks." Cloud took the cup and started sipping on it. Looking over the files some more, he noticed one marked top secret. "So what's the current method to remove the mako?"

Rufus sighed. "That's the difficult part. Without a steady supply of mako, their organs begin to disintegrate. We're trying to slowly remove it by processing it through a heart bypass machine, exposing the blood to small amounts of fusion power at a time and slowly reducing the mako concentration."

"How long would it take?"

"A week; we're starting tomorrow if all the tests point in the right direction."

Tifa frowned, concerned. "How risky is it?"

"Since we're removing the mako slowly, there's minimal risk. If we detect a problem, we can reverse the process pretty easily." Rufus noticed Tifa still didn't seem comfortable with the idea. "If it makes you feel any better, we have him on pain management meds along with the sedation, so he's in heaven compared to what his life has been like."

Cloud continued to scan through the papers, and wasn't very convinced. "Even if this does work, there's no way we can do this for every one of them if we were to catch a large group at once. Just this one kid is taking up a whole floor of the research division."

"True; but we're hoping the results will help us develop a faster and more portable solution. Until then, we can only remain optimistic about the tests results. There is another matter I wish to discuss with you two, however."

Cloud noticed there weren't any more files, so he'd have to listen to Rufus talk; he wasn't fond of that. "Yes?"

"I need you and Tifa to get your ragtag mercenary group together and go off in search of the source of all these mutants. If you can manage to snatch up the ringleader, alive, and bring him here, perhaps we can persuade him to help us find a cure."

Truth be told, this was the break Cloud had been looking for. He hated sitting behind a desk in a cold office all day dressed in full uniform and hearing people constantly call him General Strife. Cloud looked to Tifa for approval, and she must have seen the excitement in Cloud's eyes. "Yes, Cloud, we can go."

Cloud suppressed pumping his arms in celebration in front of his boss. "General Strife, ready to start mission sir!"

Rufus grew amused as he leaned over to gaze past Cloud's standing form to meet Tifa's eyes. "He's excited about this, isn't he?"

Tifa giggled. "He's been waiting for something like this since he started this job."

"Good. I've already got Cid lined up with the Neo-Highwind and stationed a crew on her for your travel. I'm sure you all still have your weapons from your past adventures ready?"

Tifa pulled pair of leather gloves with metal knuckles over her hands. "I always keep them with me in case Cloud gets out of line." Tifa smiled as she finished her sentence.

Rufus smirked at Tifa's sassy comment. "Seems I should assign Tifa as your commanding officer, General."

"I don't think it'd matter what you appoint her, she'd still be my superior."

Tifa blushed. "Aww, that's so romantic Cloud."

Rufus coughed to break up the moment. "You're learning, Cloud. Anyway, take this PHS and contact your friends. Cid and the crew are preparing the ship for takeoff. Your first stop is North Corel to pick up Barrett; from there you'll pick up friends as you can contact them. Bring them back here to brainstorm over the evidence we have."

"Yes, sir," Tifa and Cloud said in unison. They turned and smiled at each other. Lost for a second, a gruff cough from Rufus brought them back to attention.

"Now, you two, leave before you jump on each other in my office."

Cloud blushed and Tifa laughed, grabbing the 'General's' hand and leading him out of the office.

Slowly walking down the hallway, Cloud noticed Tifa looked a little worried. Concerned, he walked closer to her to talk.

"You're sure you're alright with this?"

Tifa smiled. "Of course."

A brief, awkward bit of silence filled the empty corridor before Cloud spoke up. "I know you're worried about something."

"Oh, nothing big; I'm just thinking about the wedding."

Cloud shrugged it off. If it was something important, it would come up again, and if it did then he'd push the issue.

They got in the car and started to drive home. Cloud hated driving the car. Tifa had bought it with part of the extravagant bonus Rufus had given him. It was small, cheap, great on gas…but really, really slow. Tifa had put her foot down when Cloud wanted to drive his motorcycle.

"Aren't you excited, Cloud?"

"Of course I am. I just want to make sure this is fine with you before I go celebrating my first trip out of the office."

Tifa giggled. "Stop being so silly; I'm just as excited as you are to go off on another adventure."

Cloud smiled. Relaxed, thinking he had simply overreacted, he allowed the excitement of the upcoming adventure to settle in. "I wonder what we're going to see this time."

* * *

_End Chapter 1_

_Yes I know this was supposed to be out WAYYY earlier, but school and life always seem to get in the way. Please review! I hope to carry over all the fans from Advent Hearts into this story. As always thanks to _Calistar Heir _for looking over this!_


	2. Chapter 2: Onward

_Yes I know its been almost half a year since I've updated this story. Writer's block, fraternity stuff, classes, and of course the occasional party have kept me from my writing. This chapter was really hard to write because I couldn't remember a lot of the back story. I had to completely reread Advent Hearts and jot notes to try and keep the story line and content in place. With summer coming up I'm pretty sure I'll be able to get this story updated at least every other week, but don't hold me to it. I just finished pulling an all niter for an exam I've got in 6 hours and worked on this when I took breaks. The next chapter will be longer, but I figured ya'll been waiting half a year for something. Enjoy and as always R&R!_

Chapter 2

_Onward_

* * *

The Shera was an impressive vessel. After the original Highwind had been destroyed, Rufus had taken the opportunity to build a newer, faster airship calling his father's Highwind an ancient piece of machinery. Of course, no one ever told Cid that.

The rough middle-aged captain was standing behind the helm of the large vessel with a toothpick between his teeth. Every now and then he'd grab a tin can of mints and pop a few into his mouth. The rest of the crew busily ran about the cockpit, checking readouts and instruments as they continued their course towards North Corel.

"Cid, why are you popping mints every five seconds?" The spiky blonde general had been confined in the cockpit for the past hour and was getting anxious.

"Helps keep the cravings down, broom head. What's it to ya?"

"Nothing; just bored."

"Well if ya need something to do, why don't you go scoop out the chocobo stalls."

"Don't you have someone to do that?"

"OHHH! Listen to this guy." Cid popped another couple of mints into his mouth and it seemed to calm him down. "Look, Spike, we're about to land in North Corel anyways. Just go gather up your fiancé and get ready to ride out."

"Ride out?"

"Yeah, Rufus took the car we usually keep on board so we gotta go ride those damn stupid birds into town."

Cloud smiled picturing Cid riding a chocobo. Grateful for the chance to leave the cockpit, he started to look around for Tifa. He started with the air deck and there was no trace of her; the meeting room and chocobo stalls yielded the same result. Looking into the cabins, he couldn't find her either. Just when he was about to leave he heard a toilet flush from the bathroom.

"Tifa?" When he didn't get an answer, he walked towards the bathroom.

The door opened and a startled brown haired martial artist quickly held something behind her back.

It perked Cloud's interest. "What you got there?"

"Nothing."

"Nothing? I was sure I saw something."

"It's nothing, Cloud, don't worry about it."

"Tifa, are you hiding something?"

"Jeez, Cloud, it's a tampon, do you really want to see it?"

Cloud's usually stoic face inverted itself as the awkwardness quickly set in. "Ah…no that's ok. Cid wanted me to let you know we'll be landing soon."

"Thank you; I've been so notified, General Strife."

"Hey!"

Tifa giggled and quickly threw away the object she had been hiding in a small trash bag she had on her bed. "Alright, I'll lay off the title. I'll get ready; we're just picking up, Barrett right?"

"Yea, but be ready for anything. We're riding in on chocobos, so we shouldn't have to worry about the regular creatures lurking about. But I want to be extra careful with these mutants."

"Yes Gener-"

"Tifa."

She smiled. "I gotcha, baby."

Cloud sighed and put his hand over his face. "Why do you just go from one extreme to the other?"

She laughed again and lurched onto him. "Well, what do you want me to call you?" She pushed herself up against him and brought her lips inches from his. "Lover?"

"Tifa…" Cloud was getting worked up. His mind wanted to get out and get everything ready for the mission. His body, on the other hand, wanted to do something to Tifa.

"Heh; just kidding, Cloud." Tifa released her fiancé and threw a couple pairs of clothes into a duffle bag along with some items needed for the road. "But I'd wait a second before I go back to the cockpit."

"Why's that?"

Tifa laughed. "Well, the 'little general' is still standing at attention."

Cloud blushed and looked down noticing his predicament. Sitting down he focused on making himself more 'presentable'. "How do you always manage to do this to me?"

Tifa smiled mischievously. "Would you like me to show you?"

"You're not helping."

"Yeah, yeah. You can't blame me we've been cooped up in this thing for two hours with nothing to do."

_"Hey, Lovebirds! Stop the humping and get to the chocobo stalls; we're heading out!"_

Cloud sighed. "He just stepped down to the weaker nicotine patches."

"Well, at least he's still going strong. You go on; I'll catch up in just a second."

"Alright…everything ok?"

Tifa smiled at him. "Everything's fine, Cloud, stop worrying."

Cloud turned and walked out of the cabin.

As soon as she was sure he had left, Tifa looked at the bag on the bed. "…Crap." Grabbing the bag, she opened one of the port holes and quickly threw it out. "How am I supposed to tell him?"

Closing the port hole, Tifa shook off her concerns and put a smile on her face. "No sense in worrying about it now."

--

"Now I remember why I hate those damn, stupid, idiotic, piece of shit birds. Damn my ass hurts." Cloud and Tifa both started to laugh when Cid tried to sit on the stool and quickly jumped up; he settled on standing instead.

"Don't worry Cid. Barrett should be here soon, and then we should have a car to take us to the airship." Tifa threw a beer to Cid and grabbed a water for herself and Cloud.

"Mr. General ready to meet up with some old friends?"

"Tifa, can't you just call me Cloud?"

"Oh but it's so much more fun to call you General."

Cloud smiled. "I'm glad it's fun for you, but I'm still getting used to it. Brings back some bad memories."

Looking into her eyes, Cloud could tell Tifa understood what he meant. Every time he heard the world "general", he couldn't help but think of Sephiroth, and that was one memory he'd rather lay to rest.

"Sorry Cloud."

"No, it's not your fault. I shouldn't be worrying about it." He gently kissed her to reinforce his apology. "I'm just still getting used to the job."

Tifa smiled. "Well, I don't think there's a better man on the planet than you to protect the world." She kissed him. "And I'll always be by your side."

A loud cough broke the couple apart and quickly grabbed Cid's attention from the bar. "Would you two lovebirds mind not getting it on here?"

"Barrett!" Tifa ran over to the large man and gave him a hug.

"Nice to see you too, Teef, been too long since I've seen any of ya'lls sorry ass faces."

"Missed you too, ya over-grown ox." Cid chugged down the rest of his beer and threw the empty can behind the bar.

"That's _Mayor_ Ox to you." Barrett came by and shook Cid's hand slapping him on the back. "So what's all the talk going 'round for? I tried ask'n Rufus, but he turned all smart ass on me, say'n to wait to hear it from you, Spike."

Cloud laid the confidential folder in front of Barrett and let him look over it. "We're supposed to go looking for the source of these mutants. Rufus thinks there's an organized group producing them."

Barrett continued to flip through the files. "Looks like ya'll finally caught one of those buggers. Shit, and even try'n to cure it?"

"Him, Barrett, him." Tifa looked sternly at the large black man.

"Gotcha, him. Sorry Teef, it's just so easy to forget these nightmare fuck'n things used to be human. We just had one last week try'n break into the town. Took me and five other guys armed to the teeth to take its ass down."

Cloud grabbed the folder. "You still have the corpse?"

"Yeah, got it in the hanger under guard. Come on, I'll show ya."

A short drive later the group arrived at the air strip. Barrett led them into a hanger the guards both on alert and highly armed kept watch over the mutant corpse.

Cloud bent down and took a close look at the body. The rapid decomposition of the mutants due to lack of a mako source made for a pretty gruesome sight, but he was still able to tell the mutant wasn't his father. "Looks like this one was pretty tough."

"Damn thing was charging around like a bull, knocking people every which damn way." Tifa shot Barrett a disapproving glare he put his hands up in defense. "I don't like killing them any more than you Teef, but ya gotta realize. These things don't give up. Can't lock 'em up, hell can't even stun 'em. I know they used to be human, but if some guy started running around killing people in my town I'd do him same way we did this mutant."

Tifa sighed. "I just hope the research department is able to figure out a cure for this mess."

Cloud was still looking over the body. It puzzled Cid. "Spike, what you taking such a damn long look at it for? I'm bout to toss my cookies just having to smell it."

"Rufus found some files from Hojo's old lab a little over a month ago. Hojo created these mutants for a project called Jenova's Gate. He wanted to use the maximum about of mako in a human being to try and create something as powerful as Jenova."

"What's that got to do with you looking at that corpse like its Midgar's Next Top Model?"

"My father was the first test subject for Hojo's project. Rufus and I both believe he's still alive, but we're certain he's running around as a mutant. I was making sure that wasn't him."

Barrett and Cid both got a solemn expression on their faces. "Damn Spike, sorry, didn't know it was like that."

Cloud stood. "It's not a problem. I've known my father to be dead most of my life, and I'm not getting my hopes too high on finding him alive. But I want to try. Barrett, you all loaded and ready to go?"

"Yea, jus gotta say good bye to Marlene and Elmyra."

Cid chuckled. "Much as you been shacking up with that woman when you gonna throw a ring on her finger?"

The entire group was dumbfounded when Barrett appeared embarrassed and didn't have a comeback. He pulled a small velvet box from his pocket showing it to the trio. "I wanna make sure I come back from this one alive, then I'll ask."

Barrett walked off and the group left him be opting to head to the car instead. When Cloud was certain Tifa was out of earshot, he went up to one of the guards with a sealed order and handed it over. The guard opened it and nodded he would comply.

_By Order of Neo-Shinra Security Division_

_You are to burn the corpse of the deceased mutant that attacked North Corel. This is for the safety of the general public of North Corel and at large._

_ Rufus Shinra_

Cloud didn't like having to treat these once human's turned mutants like the fiends he fought out in the country side. But they were even more dangerous than the everyday monster and they posed a serious threat. _"No measure's too extreme at this point."_

--  
**A Few Day's Later  
**--

_"The process is going very smoothly Cloud. You can actually tell he's a human boy at this point. The mutant extremities decomposed pretty early in the fusion process and left behind his original body. We're still trying to get the Mako out of his major organs, though."_

Cloud stood on the air deck of the Shera, PHS in hand. He had meant to call Reeve earlier about the mutant boy's progress but an impromptu party triggered by their reuniting with Yuffie and Vincent in Wutai ended any productive plans Cloud had for the evening. The general gripped his forehead in pain, the hangover still taking its toll. "How far is he into the process?"

_"This marks day three so far. His heartbeat is about normal and brain function is starting to emulate human patterns. If it wasn't for the painkillers and sedation, however, he'd still be going crazy."_

"Alright, keep me posted if anything changes."

_"Will do, Cloud."_

"Vincent, I don't know how you put up with this daughter of mine!"

Cloud took a peep over the railing of the air deck to see Vincent, Yuffie, and Yuffie's father in what looked like a heated discussion. The airship was still docked just outside Wutai, as Cid still hadn't woken up.

"Dad, shut it, to think I came here to celebrate New Years with you!"

"You drank the palace's finest reserve of Sake? That stuff costs over a hundred thousand gil a bottle!"

"Are you saying your lousy alcohol is too good for your daughter?!"

"I just wish you'd act a bit more dignified! You threw up all over the head temple priest, for Leviathan's sake!"

"You…humpff" Vince had enough of the heated quarrel. He had been standing idly by, not saying anything, but the former Turk didn't like to be caged into an awkward situation for long.

"Thank you for your hospitality, King Godo. We'll take our leave now."

"Take care of her, Vincent." Cloud saw Godo look towards Yuffie with caring eyes. "She is my only daughter after all."

Yuffie stopped struggling and Vincent let her down. Without saying another word to her father Yuffie calmly walked up the ramp to the airship.

"I'll guard her with my life."

Godo smiled. "I'm more worried about you than her. Just don't let her wear you out; heaven knows we can't have the future king of Wutai dead before he weds."

Cloud had to hold back a laugh as Vincent was clearly embarrassed at the King's not so subtle hint at his expectations of Vincent and Yuffie's relationship. Vincent didn't reply to the King's comment and solemnly boarded the aircraft.

_"Attention, assholes, I'm hungover and these damn nicotine patches ain't working! Get your shit ready to go, cuz I'm lift'n off any minute now. Trust me, none of you want to piss me off right now!"_

Cloud sighed and headed below deck. Their last stop was Cosmo Canyon to pick up Red XIII. By the time they wrapped that up Cloud prayed the research department would have at least some news on a portable cure for the mutants.

_"Everyone on the fuck'n air deck, now! We got us a visitor!"_

The entire group rushed up to the air deck, Cloud merely turning around and walking back through the door. Looking off the port side, they spotted a mutant that was on course for Wutai.

"We've got to stop it. Are you all equipped?" Cloud turned to his friends who nodded.

Yuffie smiled holding up her conformer glowing with the equipped material. "I helped myself to the stockpile in the hold. Didn't think you'd mind, General."

Cloud sighed and led the group over the railing. After hitting the ground the group charged after the mutant. Barrett fired off a few shots to get its attention. It worked: the mutant quickly turned away from the town and faced its new adversaries.

Tifa took a stance next to Cloud. "You think we can capture it?"

"No; I wish we could, but there's no way we could risk brining it on the airship. If we leave it here, the entire town's doomed."

Tifa sighed. "I wish it didn't have to be this way." Tightening her gloves onto her hands, she started chanting a powerful fire spell.

The rest of the group followed suit hurling powerful elemental spells at the mutant. It howled in pain, and started charging.

Nearly impaling Barrett with one of its horns, the large gun-armed man managed to avoid the horn and was merely tossed into the air. He shot a rocket at the mutant, blowing it off course from nearly impaling Yuffie before he hit the ground.

Vincent quickly started firing off at the mutant, trying to find a weak spot. The skin on the creature was incredibly thick. While the spells seemed to have some effect, all physical attacks just seemed to agitate it. Tifa quickly dodged out of the way when the mutant tried to get her with its horn, but it didn't stop running. It crashed into the airship, leaving a gaping hole in one of the engines.

"Oh hell no, you little bitch! I don't care if you're a fuck'n walking battle tank! No one, and I mean _no one_, hurts my baby!" Cid uttered a quick spell and his lance suddenly caught on fire. Leaping high into the air, the pissed pilot aimed the lance right between the monsters eyes. Cloud and the group watched in anticipation, praying the lance would pierce the mutant's hide or Cid was going to have a horn right through his chest.

Just as the lance made contact, a massive blast enveloped the two combatants. When the dust settled, Cid was on one knee, panting, his lance firmly embedded in the mutants face.

"Are you fuck'n crazy! You're too old to be pulling shit like that!"

Cid smiled. "Look who's talking. That thing threw your gun-toting ass into the air like you were an f'n pillow."

"Whatever. Cloud, what we do with this thing now?"

Tifa scowled, but had given up trying to rebuke her teammates' disrespect to what she considered a victim. Even she was starting to see that without a cure, there was no alternative than to kill these things. The mutant was so violent and enraged that it had ripped a pretty good section out of the airship's engine.

"We're going to have to burn the corpse. We can't risk it reviving itself." Cloud looked at Tifa an apologetic expression on his face. Tifa didn't look happy, but she nodded her agreement; there was no other option…

* * *

_End Chapter 2_

_So…yea it took a really long time to get this to ya'll. Life was the biggest problem, but you'll all be surprised to learn that Chapter 3 is just about ready to be posted, just a little more editing work and it'll be up so look for it in the coming week. Chapter 3 will focus on a slightly lighter issue than Chapter 2. Big thanks also goes out to Blue-eyes2014 (formerly known as Calistar Heir) and Inkster for their BETA work on this chapter. Please Read and Review! I'll be giving out individual reviewer thanks in the next chapter to all those that review this chapter!_


	3. Chapter 3: Delay

**Chapter 3**

_Delay_

* * *

Cid mumbled as he worked on repairing the engine. It was already getting dark outside and the entire group was a little antsy after the mutant attack.

"Fuck'n piece of fucked up…ah, whatever the hell they are! This engine's a mess!"

"Cid!" Cloud yelled from the ground.

"What the hell do you want?"

Cloud immediately regretted getting the pilot's attention. It seemed the stress from the battle brought his cigarette craving back tenfold. "How we looking on the engine?"

"That bitch of a mutant did a number on her. I've got all the spare parts we'd need on board, but I don't see us lift'n off 'til daybreak, and that's with me working through the whole damn night."

Cloud's sprits didn't dampen too much. True, they were now behind schedule, but it's not like the world was going to come to an end if they had to take a day off. _"Knock on wood," _Cloud silently muttered in his head.

Grasping him from his thoughts, Tifa interlocked her arm with his. "How about a nice bite to eat?"

"I've got to help keep watch with night falling. We don't want to deal with another mutant before we get this thing fixed."

"Oh come on. Yuffie and Barrett are on shift right now. There's the restaurant within earshot of the place."

"Alright, alright you win. Lemme just tell Vincent where we'll be and we'll go grab something to eat."

Tifa squeezed the General's arm tightly before letting him go, assuring him he made the right decision.

Cloud sighed. That woman had him wrapped around her finger; all she had to do was tug on his string and he'd do as she asked. He smirked. _"Just one of the things I love about her."_

Approaching the ramp way to the airship Cloud spotted Vincent leaning against the door frame of the entryway. "Vincent?"

"Yes, Cloud?"

"Keep a close eye out for me, will ya? I'm gonna take Tifa to grab a bite to eat. When we get back you can grab some grub with Yuffie if ya like."



"Sounds like a plan, my man."

Cloud was dumbfounded. Vincent must have been able to see his expression through the dark. "Yuffie taught me some 'hip' phrases and wanted me to practice them."

Cloud smiled. The young ninja seemed to have Vincent around her finger just as tightly as Cloud was wound around Tifa's. Walking towards the town entrance Cloud met Tifa at the gate and they walked towards the restaurant.

"Nice weather huh?"

Cloud pulled Tifa close to him. "It is; I'm glad I was finally able to get out of the office and take a trip with you."

Tifa laughed. "I'll bet you're happy not wearing that uniform either."

Cloud shuddered. As much as he hated comparing himself to Sephiroth, he didn't see why he had to wear the gaudy military dress uniform when Sephiroth had never worn it. "You can say that again. There's no way I'd be able to fight in that thing."

"Oh? I think it makes you look sexy."

"Whatever; every time I come home in it, I can tell your holding back a laugh."

Tifa laughed. "Guess you caught me. I don't understand why Rufus makes you wear it though. Sephiroth never…" Tifa cupped her mouth looking at Cloud apologetically.

Cloud hugged her, assuring Tifa she hadn't made a mistake. "No, it's alright, Teef; to be honest, I was thinking the same thing. I'll have to ask Rufus about that."

Tifa smiled. "Knowing him, he'll probably dock your paycheck."

"Hell, I could live like a king on half of what he's paying me."

The couple entered the restaurant and was quickly seated at a small booth. The waitress brought them a menu and took their drink orders: Just two waters; both wanted to be alert in case something should happen tonight.

"Decided?"

Tifa nodded. "I've always been a fan of pot stickers. What about you?"

"I think I'll take a sweet and sour chicken dish. May as well eat up while we have the time."

They placed their order with the waitress and before they knew it, the food was placed on the table and the two quickly dug in.



After the meal was finished Cloud noticed Tifa looked a little uncomfortable. "Something wrong, Teef?"

The raven haired beauty looked down at her lap, unable to meet Cloud's gaze. "There's something I need to tell you Cloud."

"Sure, what's up?"

Tifa smiled at Cloud's friendly tone, but she wasn't sure how the 'General' would take this news, especially with her being on this adventure with him. "Firstly, I want you to know I just found out yesterday on the airship. I've been feeling a little nauseous the past couple of weeks…"

"Are you sick?"

Tifa smiled. "No silly, I'm not sick. I've been having these weird cravings for food too. Like I ate a bowl of vanilla ice cream with cheese on it last night for dinner."

Tifa had to hold back her laughter as Cloud's face clearly showed he wasn't following her at all. The butterflies built up in her stomach. _"Crap. This is harder than telling him I loved him for the first time."_

"Tifa, what are you trying to tell me?"

"I picked up a test from the supplies on the Shera. It was positive."

"Test? What test? What did you test positive for?"

Tifa reached out and grabbed Cloud's hand gently stroking it with hers. "Baby."

Cloud blushed. "Come on Teef, don't call me that here."

Tifa laughed. "I wasn't talking about you Cloud."

The gears in General Strife's mind started turning quickly. The blonde swordsman was a master of war tactics and swordplay, but the concept his mind was trying to grasp was hidden a little further back in Cloud's mind.

"Father?"

Tifa smiled. Cloud was starting to get it.

"Baby?"

Tifa nodded.

"I'm going to be a daddy?"



Tifa grew a little nervous when Cloud's face showed fear and confusion. She withdrew her hand as he stood up and got up from the booth. His back was to her as he looked around the restaurant filled with patrons.

"_I knew I should have told him in private. What am I gonna do?"_ Tifa felt strings tugging at her heart. _"…What's Cloud going to do?"_

"Everyone! I'm gonna be an f'n daddy! Everyone get s a shot on me tonight!" Cloud quickly leaned down and hugged the confused martial artist. He gently pulled her out of the booth and presented her to the now attentive crowd. "And this beauty is my fiancé and the momma!"

Tifa felt a blush covering her face. Cloud stood there with a huge smile plastered across his face. Tifa felt herself calm down as she giggled over Cloud's facial expression. _"I don't think I've ever seen him this happy."_

The entire restaurant filled with cheers as a few women came to congratulate Tifa and a number of the men came over to Cloud, slapping him on the back and pushing beers his way. All the fear Tifa had felt disappeared as she hugged her fiancé tight. "Thanks."

Cloud gently grabbed her arms and pushed her back slightly to meet his face. "No, I'm thanking you. This is amazing!"

Tifa felt a few tears drop down her cheeks. _"I knew I fell for this guy for a reason." _Staring up at her fiancé she gently wiped away the tears on his jacket and a smile spread across her face. "Where's my drink?"

Cloud had a look of fake shock. "Are you kidding? You're not drinking any alcohol until that baby comes out."

Tifa pouted. She wrapped her arms around him and stared up at his face. "Please? Just one?"

Cloud shook his head. "Absolutely not."

Tifa pouted a little more, but when she saw it was getting her nowhere a smirk crept across her face. "Well if I can't drink, I guess we better not have any fun time 'til the baby's born too."

The restaurant erupted in a roar of laughter. Cloud turned red with embarrassment. Tifa always had a daring quick wit to her. Touché.

An older woman waddled to the couple with a drink in her hands. She quickly handed it to Tifa. "I've been a mid-wife for over sixty years, General. This early she'll be fine, even up to six months she can still have a light drink or two." She pulled on Cloud's cape, bringing his ear down to her level. "And if she won't give ya any fun time you just come by my cottage cross the way and I'll fix you up." She said it loud enough so everyone heard, and just to make her point she kissed Cloud on the cheek.



The restaurant filled with even more laughter. Tifa nearly fell over holding her stomach since she was laughing so hard. Cloud still bearing a deep red blush slowly shifted towards the door. "I think I'm going to go get the other's to celebrate with us."

The laughter followed the General all the way out the door as he ran from the entryway towards the Shera. When the group saw him running back frantically without Tifa they feared the worst. "Spike what the hell's got you running like that?"

Barrett walked up to Cloud placing a hand on his shoulder. "You hear'd that punk-ass Cloud, what the hell's going on and where hell is Tifa?"

Cloud smiled. "Everyone we're taking another day vacation. Cid, stop working on the engine; we're all going to the restaurant to celebrate."

The group gathered around the swordsman all eager to be filled in as to what caused this sudden celebration. "And Cloud, what are we celebrating exactly?" Vincent stared at Cloud, his eyes questioning him.

"Yeah, chocobo head, what's going on?"

The group was shocked when they saw the usually stoic Cloud Strife grinning from ear to ear. "Tifa's pregnant, I'm gonna be a daddy!"

If there had been a cigarette in Cid's mouth it would have fallen out. "Come again, Spike?"

"Tifa's having a baby. I'm the father."

Barrett walked up to Cloud. His larger imposing figure loomed over the blonde as he stared down at the General, rubbing his gun-arm. "So you already jumped the gun and knocked her up huh?"

"Well, I wouldn't put it like that…"

"You're a real piece of fuck'n shit." Barrett leveled the gun at Cloud. "What's my Marlene gonna think when she see's Tifa like that!"

Cloud quickly knew it was time run as he darted towards the airship.

"You bring that Spikey horn dog ass back 'ere right the fuck now!"

As if on cue, what was going on finally clicked in Yuffie's head. "A baby! Oh my gosh! Vinny, I'm going to be an aunt!"

"Please don't call me that."

"Sorry, but Vince, a baby! Oh my gawd! I'm so excited."

Cid stood blankly still trying to take everything in. _"Baby? Yuffie, an Aunt?...Wait that makes me a…"_



Cid grabbed his lance and charged after Cloud with Barrett. "Oh fuck no, your Spikey ass ain't making me no f'n grandfather when I just had my first kid!"

Vincent buried his face in his palm. "Unbelievable…"

Yuffie had already run off to the restaurant to join her newly pregnant friend in the celebration.

It wasn't soon after that the entire group joined in on the fun. The guys were swapping stories at the bar and Cloud turned red as one of the older men told Barrett and Cid what had happened earlier. Both men erupted in a fit of laughter. Cid, now drunk, even fell out of his chair. Barrett wrapped his arm around Cloud still unable to control his laughter.

"So I hear you're into older women?"

"Oh, lay off already! Can't I just enjoy the fact I'm gonna be a daddy tonight?"

Cid drunkenly stumbled over to the General slapping his back with a little more force then necessary. "Heard your woman really showed you when you tried to keep her drink away."

Cloud groaned. It seemed there wouldn't be an end to this. He looked around and was surprised to see a familiar…mane…walking through the entryway.

"Red?"

Red XIII perked up at the familiar voice and walked towards Cloud. "Good to see you again, Cloud. Or do you prefer General Strife?"

"Cloud's fine, Red. How'd you get over here?"

"Cid called and told me about the delay. I got on a ferry heading to Wutai and decided to join you here. Just what's going on here?"

"Tifa's pregnant!" the entire group yelled. Red XIII's eyes went large looking to the raven haired woman in question.

"Your...?"

Tifa nodded. "Cloud's the father."

Red XIII smiled. "That's a relief."

Another round of laughter filled the bar as Cloud groaned. The poor blonde had been bested by a talking wolf-cat. "This just isn't going to stop is it?"

He nearly jumped when he felt a pair of arms wrap around from behind him. Half terrified the old mid-wife had come back to give him another shot, he slowly turned around to meet the arm's owners.



"What? You thought I was that mid-wife?"

Cloud groaned. "Can't we just celebrate me being a daddy?"

Tifa frowned. "Only if we get to celebrate me being a mommy."

Cloud kissed her. Hoots and hollers filled the bar.

"Get a room, you two!"

Cloud and the rest of the group were shocked when they recognized the voice. A slightly embarrassed Vincent Valentine looked a bit disappointed when the crowd didn't laugh. "Perhaps I still need some practice."

Laughter resounded off the walls once again. Cloud was thankful Vince had taken some of the attention off of him. "How about we celebrate to being a family?"

Tifa kissed him. "Perfect."

--  
**The Next Day**  
--

_"Another day? What's going on? Couldn't Cid fix the engine in time?"_

Cloud groaned. Greeted by another hangover this morning, Reeve's loudly concerned words bounced around in his skull like marbles, making the headache worse with each syllable.

"We're fine, Reeve. Red XIII came to Wutai to meet us when he heard about our engine problem since that shaved off a day we decided to celebrate last night instead of repairing the engine."

_"You guys have been like a bunch of college kids on spring break up there. How are you gonna get anything done if you just party all the time?"_

"We had something big to celebrate."

_"What? Did Yuffie steal another materia from the royal treasury or something?"_

"No, actually; Tifa's pregnant with my kid."

Laughter was heard on the other end. _"Right…but come on, really, what's going on down there?"_

"I'm not kidding, Reeve, she's pregnant with my kid. I'm gonna be a daddy."

A long period of silence filled the phone. "Holy crap, Cloud! Congratulations!" The yelling through the phone made Cloud's head feel like someone slammed it with a sledge hammer.



"Yea, thanks Reeve. We'll be back early tomorrow."

_"I've got to go spread the news!"_

"Reeve!"

_"Everyone, you've got to hear this!" _Cloud could still hear Reeve's voice in the distance. He had dropped the handset and had run towards his coworkers.

_"Holy crap, General Strife's fiancé is _pregnant_!?"_

Cloud sighed, pressing the 'end call' button on the phone. He didn't feel like answering literally thousands of eager Neo-ShinRa employee's questions.

"Cloud!"

The General's mood dropped. He knew that voice, and from the past three trips he had taken today, he knew exactly where he was going to have to go. Tifa had been having a ton of weird cravings for food. At 2 AM, she wanted peanut butter ice cream with Ketchup. Then at 5 in the morning, she sent him to the galley for a potato chip and jelly sandwich.

"What's up Teef?"

"Could you help me make pot sticker pizza?"

* * *

**End Chapter 3**

_Believe it or not this chapter has been ready for nearly a month now…Yea yea I know but put those flames and pitch forks down working from 5AM-6PM isn't nearly as easy as it sounds…in fact it doesn't even really sound that easy does it? I've got a good portion of the next chapter finished but it still needs some final touches. I'll be taking a trip to my most inspirational spot in a few weeks, the beach. That's bound to reenergize my writing ability. Enjoy!__ Big thanks also goes out to Blue-eyes2014 (formerly known as Calistar Heir) and Inkster for their BETA work on this chapter. Please Read and Review!_

Personal Thanks:

**Luneress:** I'm sorry its take'n me so long to update this I hope you continue to read this story and enjoy it. Please send a review soon!

**LovingCloudStrife777: **I know the wait's been awhile but I hope this chapter had enough fluff in it for you. R&R

**Yo Wuz Up: **You've been a very loyal reviewer from Advent Hearts. I hope to keep you reviewing this story and that the long wait hasn't kept you from reading. I'm looking forward to your reaction to this chapter.

**Story Weaver 1: **Another loyal reviewer and at one time BETA. I'm glad we share a liking for both Lunar and Final Fantasy VII. Hope this chapter is something you enjoy.

**Mrs. Maxistrife: **I hope you were able to wait. Another apology for the long delay. Hope Chapter 3 was good.

**Protossmaster1: **I promise I'll continue writing this story as long as reviewers like you continue to tell me you enjoy it.

**Zili: **I can't rightly remember where I pulled Advent Rising from. Of course Advent came from the last story. I think there's a action movie called Advent Rising, but I can assure you I didn't steal the title. AH was a more romance story. AR is going to be more action/adventure orientated so I wanted an action sounding title…if that makes sense.

**TroublesomeTori: **I'm glad I've carried you over from AH. I hope the wait hasn't kept you from reading the other chapters in this story. Look'n forward to your thoughts on this chapter.

**Bepsey007: **Glad yet another AH fan has found this story. Hope this one is just as good. Let me know what you think.

**Kattzia: **I'm really sorry it's taken me so long to update this. I hope the wait didn't get you angry at me ;) Hope to see your thoughts on this chapter soon.

**GothQeen: **I'm glad you enjoyed the story. I hope to hear your thoughts on this chapter as well.


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